Once the camel's nose got into the tent, says former California legislator Carole Migden, the rest of the beast began to follow. In this case, the “camel” was anti-discrimination laws in California protecting gays and lesbians from biases that today seem unconscionable, but were standard not that long ago. Political Animals is a powerful documentary about four lesbian members of the California assembly who united to take on discrimination and faced a long, uphill battle to success, gradually accelerating progress for gay rights as the movement gained wider acceptance. Director Jonah Markowitz reunites Migden with the indomitable Sheila Kuehl, a former actress who lost her role on the 1950s-‘60s hit television sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis due to her sexual orientation, reinventing herself as a Harvard Law School graduate with political aspirations. Along with Christine Kehoe and Jackie Goldberg—the latter a veteran of the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley, and still suffering from a permanent back injury from a police beating—Migden and Kuehl led the way during the 1990s to gain legal protection for gay kids who were bullied, beaten, and humiliated at schools. Archival footage of floor speeches in the assembly over a decade show all four lawmakers making the case again and again to give gay children some shielding, only to be rebuffed by opponents who linked homosexuality with pedophilia and bestiality. But over time, viewers witness the emergence of straight allies in the assembly, leading to the passage of a student bill, ultimately followed by domestic partnership protections bills, and more. Throughout the film, the four women look back on how they patiently played the hard ground game to change hearts and minds. A stirring, encouraging film reminding viewers that it sometimes takes a long painful time for social change to happen, this is recommended. [Note: this is also available with public performance rights on DVD for $125 for public libraries and $350 for colleges and universities from The Video Project, www.videoproject.com.] Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)
Political Animals
(2016) 86 min. DVD: $16.99, Blu-ray: $19.99. Gravitas Ventures (avail. from most distributors). Closed captioned. Volume 32, Issue 3
Political Animals
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